Page edge-reinforcing index tabs and method of applying same



3,535,804 AND 1970 w. F. CUNNINGHAM PAGE EDGE-REINFORCING INDEX TABS METHOD OF APPLYING SAME Filed Oct. 8, 1968 United States Patent 3,535,804 PAGE EDGE-REINFURCING INDEX TABS AND METHOD OF APPLYING SAME Walter F. Cunningham, Des Plaines, Ill., assignor to Superior-Tabbies, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 765,838 Int. Cl. A44c 3/00 US. Cl. 40-2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A transparent strip as long as the page to which it is to be attached has adhesive by which it may be secured to the edge of said page. An integral indicia bearing tab to extend beyond the said edge extends transversely of said strip.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to index tabs, and more particularly to those intended for use on relatively thin or lightweight pages of directories or other books.

Description of the prior art Index tabs with transparent skirt portions having pressure-sensitive adhesive on their under surfaces and reversely foldable to secure the same to opposite sides of a page to position an indicia-bearing portion laterally outward of the page are well-known, such as those disclosed in my prior U.S, Letters Patent Nos. 2,893,144 and 3,070,482, but even those thin and lightweight but strong index tabs may result in tearing of the pages to which they are applied, either because of their misuse as means for opening the book made up from those pages, or where the pages are relatively thin or fragile. Examples of such books are the current US. Post Office National Zip Code Directory" and large city Yellow Pages classified telephone directories.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention completely obviates such page tearing and lengthens the useful life of the books with which it is employed, while providing an instantly usable exterior index therefor, by reinforcing the full length of the outer marginal portions of the pages on which a plurality of index tabs are mounted, each by means of an elongate strip of transparent material having pressuresensitive adhesive on its under surface for attachment to the obverse side of the associated page, with each strip having an indicia-bearing tab portion extending outwardly therefrom with pressure-sensitive adhesive on the under surface of an outer section thereof for attachment to the reverse side of the associated page, and the several tab portions having successively related indicia being spaced serially for successively greater distances from the upper end of the strips. Each such index tab is releasably mounted on release paper of substantially the same size as the strip which is severed transversely intermediate its ends to define an initially separable piece, and a second piece of. release paper is mounted on the back of the tab portion. The instant invention thus includes a novel method of attaching the index tabs comprising removing the intermediate piece of release paper from a strip, aligning the strip with the obverse side of the marginal edge portion of the proper page, pressing the exposed intermediate portion of the adhesive-covered under surface of the strip against the page, removing the lower part of the backing of release paper by separat- Patented Oct. 27, 1970 ing the upper end thereof from the strip and peeling it downwardly while followingly pressing the exposed adhesive against the obverse side of the page, similarly removing the upper part of the backing of release paper and adhering the upper part of the strip to the page, removing the second piece of release paper from the tab portion, and reversely bending the outer section of the latter and pressing the exposed adhesive thereon against the reverse side of the page.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a book to which a set of page edge-reinforcing index tabs embodying the invention has been attached;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the index tabs as seen from the underside thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the step of aligning an index tab with the marginal portion of the obverse side of a selected page preparatory to attaching the same thereto;

FIG. 4 illustrates in perspective the subsequent step in the method of applying the index tab comprising adhering the intermediate portion of the strip to the page;

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing the following step of removing the release paper backing from the lower portion of the strip while mounting the same on the page;

FIG. 6 is a similar view of the next successive step of similarly attaching the upper portion of the strip;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a portion of a page showing the strip part of a tab adhered thereto and the next successive step of removing the release paper from the indicia-bearing tab portion;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the tab portion on an enlarged scale after removal of its backing of release paper, with the outer section shown extended in broken lines and in full lines in its reversely bent final position of attachment; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially on the line 99 of FIG. 8 through a mounted index tab.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 indicates in general a book or directory with an instantly usable index exposed for display exteriorly of the free edges of pages 12 thereof. This index is made up of a plurality of index tabs, each indicated generally by reference numeral 13, and one of which is shown in FIG. 2 from the underside thereof as comprising an elongate strip 14 of a suitable transparent material, such as polyester film manufactured by Du Pont under the trademark Mylar, which is provided with a suitable coating of clear, pressure-sensitive adhesive 15 over its entire undersurface. The strip 14- is mounted upon a backing of release paper 16 of comparable size which is transversely severed intermediate its ends, preferably along substantially parallel lines to define an initially removable incremental piece 17 shown in FIG. 2 partially lifted from the strip 1.4.

This index tab 13 also includes a laterally extending tab portion 18 intermediate the ends of the strip 14 which, as best seen in FIGS. 8 an 9, preferably comprises a base of transparent material like that making up the strip 14 having pressure-sensitive adhesive 15 covering its entire undersurface and two indicia-bearing members 19 adhered to that undersurface by such adhesive and spaced from each other laterally of the strip 14 to provide a hinge portion 21. The indicia preferably are imprinted on the upper surfaces of these members 19 (as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 8) which are adhesively secured to the undersurface of the tab portion 18, and the inner one of the thus exposed end portions of the adhesive coated surface of the tab portion 18 is attached to the upper or obverse surface of the strip 14, while the outer exposed end comprising an outer wing 22 is protected by a second piece of release paper 23. This second piece of release paper 23 preferably extends inwardly a sufficient distance to overlie the hinge portion 21, the latter defining the inner edge of an outer section of the tab portion 18 which includes the outer indicia-bearing member 19 and the wing 22.

A set of a plurality of such index tabs 13 may be specifically designed for use with a particular book or directory and, in such case, each strip 14 will be substantially the same length as the pages 12 of the book or directory 11 with which it is designed to be used. In such a set, the tab portions 18 bear sequentially successive indicia related to selected pages 12 and are serially spaced successively from each other greater distances from the upper ends of the strips, as shown in FIG. 1, to present a complete index display outwardly of the pages.

The method of this invention for attaching such an instantly usable exterior index comprises successively applying such index tabs 13 to their properly related pages 12. In respect of each tab, the book or directory 11 is first opened to expose the obverse side of the appropriate page 12 and the intermediate segmental piece 17 of the release paper backing is initially removed from the strip, the same being shown partially removed in FIG. 2.

This particular index tab 13 then is aligned with the marginal edge portion of the exposed obverse side of the selected page 12 in the manner shown in FIG. 3, and then temporarily adhered thereto as shown in FIG. 4 by pressing the portion of the adhesive 15 exposed by removal of the backing piece 17 against the upper surface of the page. While holding the tab in such position with one other hand and followingly pressing the exposed adhesive on that lower end of the strip against the page 12 with the first hand. Thereafter, the upper part of the backing of release page 16 similarly is removed from the strip 14 and the upper part of the latter pressed against the page.

The second piece of release paper 23 then is removed from the tab portion 18, as illustrated in FIG. 7, which leaves the outer section of the tab portion and the adhesive on the undersurface of the wing 22 exposed, as illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 8. Thereafter, as by means of pressure between a thumb and forefinger, this outer section of the tab portion 18 may be reversely bent along the hingeline 21 to its final position, as indicated by the broken line arrow in FIG. 8 and shown in full lines therein and in FIG. 9, wherein the wing 22 is adhered to the reverse side of the page 12.

It has been found that with very little practice such attachment of a set of index tabs to a book may be ac complished very rapidly and even if the pages 12 are very thin and flimsy and the tabs subsequently are misused as means for opening the book, the reinforcing strip portion 14 of each tab assures against any tearing or wear of the pages and, in fact, materially lengthens the useful life of the book. It is contemplated that such index tabs also may be formed from a single strip of the combined width of the reinforcing strip and the attached tab portion extending outwardly therefrom, with those parts above and below that tab portion being removed in a die-cutting operation. However, it will be appreciated that such construction would materially add to the cost of manufacture of these index tabs.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the parts of the article and in the steps in the method without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the steps and forms hereinbefore described being merely preferred embodiments thereof.

I claim:

1. An edge-reinforcing index tab for application to the edge portion of a page, comprising an elongate transparent reinforcing strip substantially as long as said page with pressure-sensitive adhesive on its undersurface for attachment to the marginal edge portion of the observe side of said page, and a tab portion extending laterally from said strip with indicia thereon to be displayed beyond said page and pressure-sensitive adhesive on its under surface for attachment of said tab to the reverse side of said page upon reverse folding of the outer section thereof.

2. An index tab according to claim 1, wherein said strip is mounted on a backing of release paper of comparable size and transversely severed intermediate its ends.

3. In an index tab according to claim 2, a second piece of release paper separably adhered to the adhesive on the undersurface of said tab portion for protecting the same during attachment of said strip to the obverse side of said page.

4. An index tab according to claim 2, wherein the severing of said release paper is along substantially parallel lines to define an initially removable piece.

5. An index tab according to claim 1, wherein said tab portion comprises two indicia-bearing members spaced from each other laterally of said strip to provide a hinge facilitating said reverse folding of the outer section of said tab portion.

6. An index tab according to claim 5, wherein said indicia-bearing members are adhered to the under surface of said tab portion by said pressure-sensitive adhesive thereon and leave an outer wing of said outer section with the said adhesive exposed for attachment to said page, and a piece of release paper separably adhered to the under surface of said wing to protect the same during attachment of said strip to a page.

7. A set of edge-reiuforcing index tabs according to claim 3, wherein said tab portions on successively adjacent tabs are displaced serially from each other longitudinally of said strips to expose said indicia when said tabs are mounted on appropriate pages of a book.

8. The method of applying to the page of a book an edge-reinforcing index tab having an elongate strip with pressure-sensitive adhesive on its under surface separably mounted on a backing of release paper of comparable size transversely severed intermediate its ends and an indicia-bearing tab portion extending laterally therefrom having pressuresensitive adhesive on the outer end of its undersurface with a second piece of release paper separably adhered thereto, comprising aligning said strip with the obverse side of the marginal edge portion of said page and, while holding the upper part of said strip thereon, removing the lower part of the backing of release paper from the lower part of said strip by separating the upper end thereof from the strip and peeling the same downwardly while followingly pressing the exposed adhesive against said page, similarly removing the upper part of the backing of release paper and adhering the upper part of said strip to the page, removing said second piece of release paper from said tab portion, and reversely bending an outer section of the latter and pressing the same against the reverse side of said page.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said transverse severing of said release paper is along substantially parallel lines to define an initially removable piece, comprising an initial step of separating said removable piece before aligning said strip with the marginal edge portion of said page and adhering the thus exposed portion of said adhesive to the obverse side of said page.

5 10. The method of attaching an instantly usable exterior index to a book, comprising successively applying a plurality of index tabs having successively related indicia to properly related pages of the book by the method of claim 9.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,551,021 8/1925 Fetters 28l-42 X 6 Kingsley. Zalkind. Scholfield 40-2 X Anthony 281-42 X Peters 281-42 X EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner 

